I know many of you have no issue encrypting emails with PGP — no confusion copying and importing others' keys. No trouble remembering to back up your private keys when you switch to a new computer. No hassle keeping track of your revocation certificate, or learning to navigate Thunderbird, or getting others to “sign” your key.

I'm not one of you. And neither are many (or most?) others.

While PGP was a stunning encryption breakthrough of its time (1991), the sheer difficulty of Phil Zimmermann's innovation is evident in that it's never taken off — in spite of how sorely it's been needed.

Tutanota is the open-source Web software that makes encrypted email accessible for the first time.

Email Encryption for All

Emails sent between Tutanota users are automatically end-to-end encrypted using 128-bit AES and 2048-bit RSA algorithms. The clincher, though, is that an AES-encrypted email can be sent to non-Tutanota users with a password.

Unlike PGP, Tutanota emails encrypt the subject line of messages, as well as auto-encrypt attachments.

This makes for a smooth introduction to secure messaging for those not keen to leave their inboxes for encrypted chat apps like Surespot or Bitmessage or Pidgin. (Incidentally, the word “tutanota” is Latin for “secure message.”)